


Teambuilding

by The_Plaid_Slytherin



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers Tower, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-15
Updated: 2014-09-15
Packaged: 2018-02-17 10:57:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2307173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plaid_Slytherin/pseuds/The_Plaid_Slytherin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of TWS,  Steve gets some help from a teammate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Teambuilding

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Glinda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glinda/gifts).



Steve had just about given up when he got the phone call. He didn't recognize the number, but he answered anyway, an old habit from the days when he'd had no way to know who was calling. 

"Hey, Cap, long time, no see. While you're in New York, I have a tip for you."

Steve looked around, trying to see where Stark was. At a table at that café across the street? Maybe in one of the buildings across the way? He looked up. 

"Don't bother," said Tony. "You're looking for me, aren't you? I can't really see you; I just know you're in the city because your phone is." 

"You're tracking me?" 

"Everyone's tracking everyone. Welcome to 2014. Bet that's not what you fought a war for, is it?"

Steve's mouth opened and closed, but he forced himself to push through it. This was what Tony wanted, to get him flustered. It wouldn't work. 

"What's the tip?" 

"While you've been looking all over the world, I've stuck a little closer to home." He didn't have to say who they were looking for. 

"What did you find?" Steve was all business now, his voice coming out a little hard as he tried to suppress the hope that bubbled up in his chest. 

"Calm down, I'll take you there." 

"I'll be fine, just tell me where it is." 

"Yeah, not so fast, Rogers. You're not going in there alone. You don't know what's really in there and neither do I. I just got word that someone matching his description was seen around Brooklyn. Since we can't exactly call for SHIELD backup, I figure I can be your backup. Besides, I own the building he's living in."

"You do?" 

He could practically hear Tony's smirk. "I do now." 

**

They were hitting rush hour traffic, but Steve didn't care. If Bucky was nearby, if Bucky was in _Brooklyn_ , he wanted to get there as soon as possible. He couldn't figure out why Tony was so eager to come along, though.

"Couldn't you have flown us there?" he suggested, as they inched along. 

"Don't want to attract attention. You kind of don't after you almost meet death from above. Thanks, by the way. That's from the green guy, too." 

Steve looked up. "You talked to Banner?" 

"Yeah, we had a little chat. He's taking a vacation upstate, enjoying the mountains. It was a little stressful for him seeing all that play out on TV when he wasn't expecting it. Lots of reporters banging down his door. You heard from Barton?" 

"Natasha's tracking him down. That's why she's not with me. We were together for a while." 

Tony arched an eyebrow. "Together together?" 

Steve rolled his eyes. "No. She was helping me. She helped me a lot." He paused. "What about Thor?" 

"No one's heard from him, but that's probably a good sign. Probably safe in Viking Land." 

"That's good." Steve was glad that none of the other members of their tentative team had been hurt. 

"So, this guy. I hear you two go way back." 

He didn't want to talk about this with Tony. "Yeah. He was my best friend." 

He didn't say anything else for the rest of the drive. All he could think about was what had happened to Bucky, unbeknownst to him. While he'd been grieving for him and planning his final mission, all that time he'd been frozen in the ice, HYDRA had been doing awful things to Bucky. How could he even approach him, knowing that he had just given him up for dead seventy years ago? 

"Here's the place," Tony said. Steve hadn't noticed he'd stopped the car. It was their old building. He'd been by here not long after being thawed out, had walked through the neighborhood, noting all the changes. Their building was abandoned and now was slated to be torn down, though Tony's purchase of it had probably stalled that. 

"I'll go. Wait here." Steve got out of the car, ignoring Tony's protests that he'd be blamed if some harm came to a national treasure. He took a moment to survey the situation. The lots on either side of the building were empty, those apartment houses already having been torn down. If Bucky was up in their old place… Steve's eyes scanned the front until he'd found the window. There was no sign of life inside, but he had to be in there. If Tony's intelligence that Bucky was in Brooklyn was wrong, bringing him to this building would be too much of a coincidence. 

Steve headed around back, to what had been old Mrs. Donato's place. He tested the fire escape. It would hold him for at least one trip. He scrambled up as quietly as he could, under no illusions that Bucky wasn't watching him. Upon reaching the third floor, he hauled himself into Mrs. Donato's apartment and listened. 

No sound. Either he wasn't in there or he was staying quiet. But then again, Steve didn't imagine that a brainwashed assassin was in the habit of making too much noise. His gut clenched again. Bucky, who'd been incapable of _not_ making noise, with his big voice, clanging up the fire escape when he thought he was being discreet, leaning through the window to kiss Steve… 

He went to the window and climbed gingerly out. He was past the point of not being used to maneuvering his new body, but he still sometimes made more noise than he intended. 

Bucky was at the window. Startled, Steve jumped back. He heard several bolts disengage from the fire escape and it let out an ugly creak. Steve grabbed the windowsill by instinct. Bucky was staring at him, blankly. 

Steve didn't know for how long they stared at each other before Bucky spoke.

"Steve?" His voice sounded full of hope and disbelief. 

"Hi, Buck." Steve swallowed hard. "Can I come in?" 

Bucky didn't need to open the window, the glass had all been broken out of it. Steve climbed through. The apartment had presumably been occupied after they'd abandoned it; the only furniture in this, the living room, was battered old single mattress on the floor. The wallpaper was the same, though. The kitchen hadn't been updated either, though his oven had been gutted. There were wires sticking out from the walls where it had once been. 

"How are you doing?" asked Steve tentatively. "How long have you been here?" 

Bucky looked away. "Since I pulled you out of the river." His sentences were short and choppy and he didn't seem to want to look at Steve. "I came here to try and remember." 

"That's good, Buck. Is it working?" 

There was a slight nod. 

Steve looked around the room. No lights. No heat. "Do you want to stay here? Or do you want to come with me?" 

Bucky looked indecisive. 

"You have anything to eat recently?" Steve ventured. Somewhere, a rat skittered. 

A few minutes later, they were stepping into the sunlight, approaching Tony's idling car. 

"Hm," he said, impressed. "You actually found him." 

**

Tony put them up without even being asked. Steve's first instinct was to refuse the charity, but then he remembered that they were supposed to be a team. At least one of them was making an effort. 

Once Bucky was settled in his rooms at Stark Tower, they left him alone. Bucky seemed less intimidated by the automated nature of the building than he was by Steve's attentions. 

"He'll be fine with JARVIS," Tony assured him, as they sat in the kitchen. "He'll make sure he has what he needs for now." 

Steve looked down at his coffee. "I don't like feeling like I'm not doing anything. I don't like leaving him to be babysat by a machine." 

"JARVIS is perfectly warm and friendly. Besides, he seems like he needs some space. You can be a little overwhelming, what with ripping the fire escape of the building." Tony grinned. "My fire escape, by the way." 

Steve laughed. "Listen, I want to thank you. How did you even know I was looking for him?"

"Natasha." 

Steve shouldn't have been surprised. "I'll have to thank her, too." 

"You know, this team thing isn't such a bad thing after all." 

Steve smiled. "Didn't think I'd hear you say that."

"Trust me, it's not just you." Tony leaned back in his chair. "But I've been thinking, since everything that's happened. It would probably help to touch base in between incidents like New York. Keep in touch. Let each other know things like, 'Oh, hey, I discovered SHIELD is actually full of Nazis. Heads up.'"

"I was a little busy." 

"It's not just you. We're all still flying solo. We're pretty good when we get together, but that's still not very team-like." 

Steve folded his hands, looking interested. "So what are you suggesting?" 

"I'll handle it. Banner'll come back soon Natasha's looking for Barton. We'll talk. For now, you just concentrate on your friend. Don't worry about anything else." Tony's face was uncharacteristically serious; Steve had never seen it like this, no trace of a joke in his eyes. "I'll get you whatever you need." 

"Thanks," said Steve. He felt like there was nothing he could do for Tony. Everything about today had been about getting him in Stark's debt. 

"Don't worry about it. Maybe we'll get a seventh man out of this. Can't hurt to have as many super-powered people on our side as we can. It's certainly better than the alternative."

"You're right about that."

**

Steve waited a few hours before going in to talk to Bucky. According to JARVIS, he'd slept and ate, so maybe he would be in a good mood. 

When he came in, Bucky was sitting on the window seat, looking out at the city. 

"Things sure have changed, huh?" he said.

Bucky turned around slowly, assessing Steve. "They have, yeah."

"Mind if I sit?" 

Bucky's answer was to move over. Steve went to sit, studying him as he did. He'd had a shower and his hair was tied back. He smelled nice. Different, but nice. He kept watching him surreptitiously like that, trying to gauge Bucky's comfort level. 

"Thank you for coming to get me," Bucky finally said. "I wanted to see you." He was still speaking slowly and deliberately, a cadence his voice sounded odd in, but at least he was talking. 

"I'm glad. I wanted to see you, too." Steve laid his hand down on the seat between them. "You can stay here as long as you want." 

"You're staying here, too?" 

Steve nodded. "Just down the hall." 

"Good." And then, with a hint of a smile, Bucky laid his hand over Steve's. 

Steve smiled. Maybe Stark was on to something with the team thing.


End file.
